The turning point in Chen Geng's brilliant military career was here, and if he had recovered from his wounds and returned to the Red Fourth Front, the outcome would have been unpredictable.
Why?
Under the care and command of Mao Zedong, the Red Army has always shown a strong trend of development, and the victory of the first, second, third, and fourth "anti-encirclement and suppression" in the Central Soviet Region is a clear proof of Mao Zedong's frank heart, knowledge of people and good responsibilities, and the acceptance of wise men.
At that time, Zhang Guotao, the chief of the Red Fourth Front, was narrow-minded, jealous of his ability, and solipsistic, and vigorously carried out "purge" and expansion in the revolutionary base areas of Eyuwan and Sichuan-Shaanxi, killing many outstanding cadres and Red Army commanders, and even Cheng Xunxuan, the wife of commander-in-chief Xu Xiangqian, was brutally killed and killed by Zhang Guotao.
The following is a description of the four main injuries in Chen Geng's military career.
Chen Geng was injured for the first time in his military career in 1925, when he was wounded in his left foot during an attack on the city of Huizhou during Chiang Kai-shek's second eastern expedition against the Warlord Chen Jiongming in Guangdong.
The second injury was in 1927 when he participated in the Nanchang Uprising, Chen Geng served as a battalion commander of the rebel Army He Long's 20th Army, at that time Lin Biao was only a company commander, Su Yu was only the leader of the guard squad of the rebel army headquarters, and later after the rebel army withdrew from Nanchang, it moved to Guangzhou, on the way in the battle of Huichang, Chen Geng commanded the troops to fight, and was hit by three bullets of the enemy army in the left leg, causing the knee, tibia, and fibula to be broken, and he was seriously injured, unable to continue to transfer with the troops, so he had to leave the team and go to fu Lianzhang Gospel Hospital in Changting, Fujian Province. Fu Lianzhang decided to amputate his left leg after diagnosis and treatment, Chen Geng resolutely disagreed, Fu Lianzhang had to carry out conservative treatment, in the absence of anesthesia, every day with a scalpel to cut off necrotic muscles, Chen Geng died and came back to life, endured severe pain for about a month of treatment, and finally saved his left leg.
Although he saved his left leg, but he was not completely healed and could not walk, Chen Geng decided to go to Hong Kong for treatment, fortunately, with his aide-de-camp Lu Dongsheng taking care of him, he arrived in Hong Kong on his back, at that time Hong Kong also arrested the rebel generals who went from the mainland, and the hospitals did not dare to accept him, so Lu Dongsheng had to carry Chen Geng on his back by boat to Shanghai for treatment.
When the ship arrived in Shantou on the way, because the Kuomintang reactionaries in Shantou were still arresting the rebels everywhere, Chen Geng was sitting on the boat, and suddenly found Zhou Yiqun, the commander of the Third Division of the rebel army, among the passengers on the ship. When Chen Geng saw this, he first motioned for Lu Dongsheng not to make a sound, moved lightly to sit down next to Zhou Yiqun, who was sleeping, and then took out a newspaper to cover his face, pretended to be reading the newspaper, and muttered quietly: "I don't know if the news in this newspaper is true or not, saying that there is a Communist Leader Zhou Yiqun who may want to ship in Shantou." When Zhou Yiqun heard this, if he heard the thunder, he was frightened and immediately sat up, and when he saw clearly that it was Chen Geng who was speaking, he was surprised and delighted, and he hammered Chen Geng fiercely: "It turned out to be you Chen Geng, when is it, and you are still making this kind of joke!" After saying that, the two laughed.
Zhou Yiqun was also an outstanding activist and military expert in our army, as well as the introducer of Marshal He Long to join the party and the founder of the early Chinese Communist army, but unfortunately he died young, and in May 1931, he was ambushed by the Kuomintang army at the Jiajia Pavilion in Yueyang, Hunan Province, and died heroically at the age of 35.
Chen Geng was cared for by Lu Dongsheng all the way to Shanghai, where he was meticulously treated and eventually cured at Renji Hospital, where Niu Huilin was the main manager.
After Chen Geng's leg wound was healed in Shanghai, he stayed in the Shanghai CCP Special Branch and fought against the Kuomintang on a hidden front under the personal command of Zhou Enlai.
One night in August 1928, Zhang Yunyi was about to move in his apartment, when he suddenly broke into four policemen, and without saying anything, he took off his robe and coat and put on a suit for him. The police leader sneered and ordered a policeman to open his suitcase, which contained more than a dozen bags of "white noodles", and just walked out of the apartment, a group of people outside the apartment stopped the way: "What for?" The police chief said triumphantly: "Catch a drug dealer!" "Wait a minute we're going to check." Zhang Yunyi saw the situation and hurriedly pleaded: "I am not a drug dealer, let go ┅ ┅ " Before the words were finished, a handkerchief was stuffed into his mouth, and the police leader raised a hand, slapped Zhang Yunyi, and then narrowed his eyes, scolding these plainclothes: "Carry out your mission, see what is hilarious, be careful to let the fox run away!" ”
The plainclothes looked at it, stopped pestering, and continued to wait for the rabbit outside the apartment.
When Zhang Yunyi was escorted to the car, opened the suitcase and took out a stack of documents, the police leader said: "Haha, I originally wanted to make a small fortune, but I didn't expect to catch a Communist Party, the famous Zhang Yunyi, the brothers got rich." ”
After a while, the car stopped, and Chen Geng got out of the car and shouted with a giggle: "Report to the director, the prisoner has arrived!" ”
Zhou Enlai strode over and said to Zhang Yunyi, "Comrade Yunyi, I have wronged you. Turning his head to Chen Geng again, he said, "When are you Chen Geng still joking?" ”
Chen Geng laughed and said, "Am I doing a good job in this play?!" He hugged Zhang Yunyi again: "Big Brother Zhang, little brother is disrespectful." Zhang Yunyi suddenly realized, and punched him: "You, you really pretend to be a ghost." "Can you cooperate if I don't?" Although I slapped you, you are also worth it, and you were not captured alive by the enemy, otherwise you would have slapped me too. It turned out that on this day, the enemy had wantonly arrested the Communist Party in Shanghai, including Yang Yin, director of the Military Department of the CPC Central Committee who had just contacted Zhang Yunyi, and was also arrested by the enemy.
Chen Geng was injured for the third time in 1932, and in April 1931, due to the defection of Gu Shunzhang, the central special branch, Chen Geng had to be transferred, and after working in Tianjin for a few months, he was transferred to the Eyu-Anhui Soviet District in September and served as the commander of the 318th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Red Fourth Army, and two months later, that is, in November 1931, the Red Fourth Front Was established, and Chen Geng served as the commander of the 12th Division.
However, Chen Geng was not happy in the Red Fourth Front, and the reason was that Zhang Guotao, the supreme leader of Eyuwan, single-handedly covered the sky and carried out a "purge" in Eyuwan, and many outstanding cadres of the Red Fourth Front were killed, among which Chen Geng's classmate Xu Jishen, who was in the Huangpu Phase I. As soon as Chen Geng arrived in Eyuwan, he inquired everywhere about Xu Jishen's whereabouts, and got the news that Xu Jishen had been dragged to death by "Chairman Zhang" on horseback; not only that, but later in the 12th Division, a revolt was also launched, and if the commanders did not die in the daytime battle, they would have to wait for a group of five to ten people after dinner, and the people sent by "Chairman Zhang" would have been forced to confess all night, and countless people would be killed in the Baique Garden near the garrison. Chen Geng didn't understand, so he went to ask the supreme leader of Eyuwan and was almost killed by Zhang Guotao on trumped-up charges. Chen Geng lived every day in Eyuwan like walking on thin ice, and he was eager to leave this "Chairman Zhang" as soon as possible.
In September 1932, Chen Geng was appointed chief of staff of the Red Fourth Front, assisting his classmate Xu Xiangqian in the first phase of Huangpu. However, in the battle of Hu Shanzhai in September, Chen Geng was wounded in his right leg again, and due to the tension of the war, he sat on a stretcher all day and could not get timely treatment, and the injuries became more and more serious, so Chen Geng had to ask for instructions to leave the army for treatment in Shanghai, and was approved by the organization.
In October, Chen Geng disguised himself as a businessman, limped north alone, stayed in a guest house in Fancheng, was interrogated by four tuanding at night, suspected of being a communist, and planned to take him to Nanyang the next day, sleeping with two tuanding on one side to prevent him from escaping. Chen Geng took a look at it, immediately called the owner of the guest house, took out twenty yuan of ocean, and said to the boss: "8 yuan is stored in the store, I will take it later." The boss knew that this was jargon, and the 8 yuan was actually given to the boss, and Chen Geng said: "The remaining 12 yuan, you go and buy some wine and vegetables and opium for these 4 tuanding to eat and suck." Under his attentive persuasion, the four tuanding were drunk that night, and took this opportunity, with the help of the boss, Chen Geng escaped on a donkey late that night.
Chen Geng went to the Renji Hospital in Niu Huilin, Shanghai, to heal his leg injury, but later unfortunately was found and arrested by traitors, although Chiang Kai-shek used the high-ranking official Hou Lu to lure, chen Geng sternly refused, Chiang Kai-shek was forced by the pressure of public opinion and the joint wishes of Chen Geng Huangpu military academy classmates in the army, had to suggest that his subordinates relaxed their guard over Chen Geng and was rescued by the underground party.
Although on the train to Jiangxi, he met Qian Dajun, a senior member of the Nationalist army who went to Jiangxi to "suppress bandits," but there was no danger; Qian Dajun had served as an instructor at the Whampoa Military Academy, and of course he knew the famous Chen Geng and invited him to a meal, so he let Chen Geng go, and Qian Dajun's aide-de-camp asked: "Chief Qian, why did you let him go?" Qian Dajun replied: "I have taught at the Whampoa Military Academy, and there is always a bit of a teacher-student friendship, right?" Chen Geng saved Chairman Jiang's life, and he is well-known among the Huangpu soldiers, so old Chiang Kai-shek can't help him, so if I arrest him, won't I find a hot potato myself? I haven't been scolded to death by The Huangpu teachers and students! It is better to turn a blind eye and make a personal love by the water! ”
Chen Geng thus successfully reached the central base area of Jiangxi.
Later, during the Long March, Chen Geng served as the head of the Red Army cadre regiment, and played a miraculous role in the later battles of Crossing the Jinsha River and Tucheng, and was praised by Chairman Mao.
Chen Geng was wounded for the fourth time in 1935, when the Central Red Army arrived victoriously in northern Shaanxi, Chen Geng served as the commander of the First Division of the Red First Army, and in the Battle of Zhiluo Town, he suffered a recurrence of a leg injury, and still let the soldiers carry him on a stretcher to direct the battle, during which one of his thumbs was wounded by a stray bullet, but he still persisted until the end of the battle.